You Again
by ImNotStubborn
Summary: AU post-season 3 finale: fake RJ was not fake, and Jane did go to jail.


_As usual, thanks to my beta, Ethiercn!_

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 **You again**

Lisbon looked up at the bright sky and sighed, closing her eyes to enjoy the warmth of the morning sun on her face. It was that time of the day between her first coffee and going to the crime scene, that peaceful moment where she felt awake enough to enjoy something as simple as California spring weather without being responsible for another case yet.

Of course, today wasn't just like any other new case morning, and even if by some weird occurrence she'd forgotten about that, the pounding of her heart would have reminded her anyway. She hadn't even been able to sleep more than a couple of hours last night, and she knew she'd pay the price later today around paperwork-o'-clock, but she couldn't really feel too bad about it.

She started as the huge metallic gate in front of her emitted a horrible, screeching sound, and she slowly opened her eyes, trying to convince herself the film of sweat she could already feel covering her palms was caused by the weather and not by what was about to happen.

She stared quietly as the joyous, three-pieces-suit-wearing silhouette of her handsome consultant approached her, and she took an involuntary deep breath to calm her nerves. The fact that he wasn't wearing the now usual, hideous prison uniform anymore made this instant even more real, and Lisbon wished she had more time to process it all.

She wasn't afraid or apprehensive. Well, not only. For the most part, she was actually excited beyond words to see Jane again, for real, out in the sunlight and not in that sickening visiting room she'd gotten too familiar with over the past years.

When he got closer and finally stood right in front of her, she knew she had to say something, anything so this moment wouldn't be awkward. But for a minute, her mind was blank, and she had no idea which words would fit that description.

Like she had so many times since that day, she simply wished they could go back to _before_ , to when Jane hadn't killed anyone and she wasn't the one who'd had to put him in cuffs for murder while feeling her heart break over his betrayal.

Of course, it would never be exactly like it had once been. He'd changed, she'd changed, and although she was glad to see him back in the real world, she had no idea what lay ahead for them.

Would he stay in the CBI? Technically, he had to. It was one of the reasons he was getting out of jail so soon.

But would they be able to work together again?

Lisbon had moved forward on some levels, sure, and her three former employees were now long gone in different directions – it had been a while after all. But she had never had any plans to leave Sacramento and get away from her former partner because, even if she'd amply proved that she didn't need Jane to do her job properly in the time he'd been away, she couldn't abandon him and pretend their past together hadn't meant anything to her.

Just like she couldn't pretend she would ever be completely okay with what Jane had done, with the pain he'd caused her back then, with the time it had taken for her to finally accept to see him again and start mending their relationship in any way possible – with him living behind bars.

They'd never gotten to the bottom of it with each other: he'd seen a court-ordered therapist for a while, and she'd seen enough empty bottles of liquor for Kimball Cho himself to not-so-nicely suggest that she get some help, too.

And then the two of them had talked about anything but Red John, Jane always making sure she left with a smile on her face, Lisbon always making sure he got a blueberry muffin – if he promised he didn't use it to escape this time.

Which is why they both knew that they needed to have a serious talk about all of this, about Jane's actions and their consequences, about how and if they could work together now.

She scoffed at that. The ex-conman who had only ever talked to her about his past when he was losing his mind over a Red John case, and the fiercely private cop who'd needed to be hypnotized to reveal any kind of personal information in his presence, needed to sit down and have a real, serious conversation about something as common as jail time and the confusing partnership they'd developed over the years.

That would be easy.

But, knowing pretty much any place other than right outside the prison he'd just spent years in would be better-suited to get into such an emotionally heavy, probably painful talk for both of them, Lisbon finally cleared her throat and tried to sound confident.

"There you are, Jane! I almost didn't recognize you without the handcuffs."

The blond man locked eyes with her and said nothing, and for a moment she thought her stupid remark could have hurt him. After all, he had just spent an awful lot of time wearing cuffs, and she knew even though he was willingly paying for his crime and keeping a straight face doing it, those years hadn't been easy on him.

Then again, this was Patrick Jane. Maybe he was just being his infuriating self, letting her know without a word that he wasn't duped even a little bit by the fake cheerfulness of her tone, and making the situation as uncomfortable as he could just to see how she would react.

But right when she opened her mouth to either apologize for her misplaced humor, or scowl him for reading her mind without permission – she still wasn't sure which – Jane threw his arms around her back and pulled her flush against him.

"I missed you too, Lisbon. It's been so long," he whispered in her ear, his voice sending shivers through her body.

It was absurd, of course. He'd seen her no longer than a few days ago on her weekly visit when they'd sat across from each other, his linked hands playing with the pastry laying on the table between them as they made small talk and attempted, as always, to ignore the oddness of the situation.

But she knew what he meant, and God did she share the feeling.

Patrick Jane was here, he was back, and it felt like she hadn't heard him speak in years. Just like everything else about him, there was no denying his voice was different today. It was lighter, free of the brick walls it had been contained within for what had felt like an eternity, making it a little weaker, a little more quiet every time she saw him, every time the guilt of his actions seemed to weigh in on his shoulders more than the week before.

She finally pulled back from their tight embrace, after gripping his shoulder a couple of time like she always used to do when she hugged him.

"Don't despair, partner," he quipped with more assurance. "The day is still young and I have yet to insult someone important enough to wear a new pair by the end of our shift!"

He grinned his most devilish smile at her, and she rolled her eyes to hide the tug she'd felt at her heart when she'd seen the expression on his face. Jane seemed genuinely happy, and although it wasn't something she was used to see, she had to admit it looked good on him.

Everything was different now, yet the bond between them seemed exactly the same as it had been on that fateful morning they'd worked their last case together – the one that had lead to Red John's demise.

And as Jane walked in direction of her car, asking questions she didn't hear – that probably had nothing to do with the case anyway – the CBI agent smiled to herself and shook her head, wondering how long it would take for her consultant's annoying habits to at least partially erase the joy she'd been feeling about his return into the real world.

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 _I found this prompt on Tumblr: "I didn't recognize you without handcuffs" and I just couldn't not picture Lisbon saying that to Jane, so..._

 _There might be another chapter._ _Tell me what you thought of this! :)_


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